Posted on 05/24/2002 1:44:31 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON -- In a mixed blessing for President Bush, the Democrat-controlled Senate on Thursday approved 66-30 a bill granting him authority to negotiate international trade agreements and providing generous benefits to displaced workers.
But the measure also would give Congress the ability to amend treaties after they are negotiated -- a provision Bush Cabinet officials say could trigger a presidential veto if it isn't stripped.
"You won't have trade promotion authority (because) you could change part of the agreement, so how are you going to get countries to negotiate with you," said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, a key Republican who helped draft the bill.
It is unclear whether Republicans have enough support to remove that provision when they meet with House negotiators over differences in the two chambers' bills. In December, the House passed a Bush-backed trade bill by one vote.
Getting the bill through the Senate was a major feat that both parties called a victory.
"It's a landmark bill because it not only modernizes our trade policies, it also is balanced with a quite progressive trade adjustment assistance for Americans who may be dislocated on account of trade," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and drafted the bill with Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican.
Since Bush arrived at the White House 16 months ago, he has demanded from Congress so-called "fast-track" trade authority. His father was the last president to be granted it, which a decade ago allowed the White House to negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. That authority expired in 1994.
"In terms of job creation, nothing we have done since George Bush became president is more important than this trade promotion authority bill," said Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, who was a key Republican negotiator for his party's free-trade conservatives.
He said Thursday was a "red-letter day" for the president, adding that he believed Bush "will use his authority on a very large scale for free trade in the Americas and free trade all around the world."
And Bush, who issued a statement after the vote, called it a "critical step in advancing America's trade agenda and strengthening the U.S. economy." He urged the House and Senate to quickly resolve their differences. But Grassley said he did not expect that to happen, perhaps not even before the fall.
Renewed trade promotion authority -- which would expire in June 2005 -- would allow Bush to move forward with major new treaties that could involve much of Europe, the Western Hemisphere, Singapore and the World Trade Organization. Such negotiations could potentially require revisions to current laws that protect U.S. industries.
Although the fast-track trade authority's objectives are to reduce or eliminate trade barriers that decrease market opportunities for U.S. goods -- such as vehicles and auto parts, wood products, electronics, distilled spirits, nonferrous metals, soda, ash and oil seeds -- many Democrats worry that opening U.S. markets to more imports will hurt U.S. industries.
If Congress is able to finalize trade promotion authority, the president is also expected to push for fairer foreign investment processes, stronger protections of intellectual property rights and closer trade ties with South American countries, including Colombia.
"The Andean countries are countries with whom we want to build trade," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "We want them to have legitimate businesses so that they will not seek the illegitimate business of drug trafficking that has preyed on so much of that region."
But the Senate bill, which was melded with an Andean free trade bill, puts up hurdles that must be overcome before the two chambers may set a final vote. Unlike the Senate, the House narrowly passed a bill that would give Bush authority to negotiate trade agreements, subject to a straight up or down vote by Congress.
In addition to including expensive worker-assistance provisions supported by Democrats, the Senate measure includes an amendment opposed by the administration.
Drafted by Sens. Larry Craig, a conservative Republican from Idaho, and Mark Dayton, a moderate Democrat from Minnesota, the amendment would allow Congress to strip from negotiated trade treaties any provisions that would undermine U.S. laws designed to protect U.S. industries from international trading practices.
House Democrats said they will center efforts during conference to ensure that provision remains in the bill. One key pro-trade Democrat, Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Calif., said keeping the amendment could convince him to support final passage, although he voted against the House bill.
For decades, Congress has grappled with the tricky process of granting fast-track trade authority to presidents because it weakens Congress' constitutional control over commerce, while making it easier for the United States to work out treaties with trading partners. President Clinton was unable to get fast-track authority from the then GOP-controlled Congress.
Trade issues also cut across partisan lines and encourage industry-based regional coalitions, which made the most recent trade debate complex.
For example, in December when House GOP leaders lacked the support needed to pass trade promotion authority, they grabbed just enough votes for passage by promising textile-state Republicans certain trade advantages.
House leaders tried to deliver on that promise Thursday by adding a rider to a war-related emergency spending bill that would modify trade with Caribbean and Andean countries so that more of the textile-making process would be done in the United States.
And granting presidents trade authority raises the hackles of environmental groups and human rights advocates, who say too often freer trade laws mean U.S. industries are allowed to transfer operations overseas for the purpose of taking advantage of weaker environmental standards and cheaper labor -- including child labor.
Further complicating the politics of this year's trade promotion debate are provisions added by Democrats that would triple the cost of trade adjustment assistance for workers displaced by international trade and a shifting global job base -- potentially costing as much $12 billion over the next 10 years.
The Senate bill would extend cash assistance programs, which expired in September, and create wage insurance and a new 70 percent tax credit for health insurance.
Republicans say the trade adjustment provisions would be too costly but voted for the bill on the assumption they can trim those provisions in conference with the House.
Grassley, who will have considerable weight with House Republicans during conference negotiations, said worker provisions will have to stay in to attract needed Democrats on final passage.
A fitting Clinton epitaph.
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